CLIVE—
The company that disposes of low-level radioactive waste in Utah is opening its doors in an effort to clear up what it claims are myths and misconceptions about what it does here. EnergySolutions is now offering public tours of its Clive facility."So many people have questions that don't understand what we do out in the West Desert in Utah," said Mark Walker, an EnergySolutions spokesman. "They don't understand what we do throughout the country and around the world."
The company admits it is battling a negative image.
"We haven't done the job that we need to do educating and we admit that," Walker said. "We admit there are ways we could do better to educate and inform the public of what we're doing."
EnergySolutions officials said Wednesday they would not seek to take in any radioactive waste hotter than the "Class A" waste they already house. The company is in court, however, to bring in foreign waste. Environmentalists have long waged a campaign to keep nuclear waste out of Utah.
EnergySolutions is set to launch a new public relations ad campaign and launch a new website to answer questions about the company. They're also offering public tours. On Wednesday, Fox 13 was invited on a tour which included a brief look inside one of their buildings and a drive around the perimeter of a 2 1/2 mile area where low-level "Class A" radioactive waste is buried.
The facility, located in remote Tooele County, was fairly non-descript. Trains were carrying containers of radioactive waste. Company officials provided an overview of the various buildings' functions including decontamination and burial of the waste.
Also on Wednesday's tour were local bloggers and people to follow on Twitter. EnergySolutions hopes that they'll see what goes on in Clive and spread the news. On another tour, a retired nuclear physics professor from BYU, a student and a former employee of the Los Alamos National Laboratory were showed the facility.
"The people of Utah are far too sensitive about the dangers, which are hardly existent," said Jack Parker, a retired nuclear worker. "I thought I should come and see this installation if I'm going to tell people there are no particular problems about it."
Those on the tour said they came in expecting to have to don "hazmat suits," and were surprised at what they found.
"Like the majority of the public I really had no idea what was going on out here and was pretty surprised to see that it was very low key and was very safe," said Michael K. Reagan, a social media consultant.
"I will probably blog about it," said Ghennipher Weeks, an online marketing consultant. "But I think this is something that doesn't generally go viral unless it's negative. I don't think they're going to have a big P.R. boost because of this, but I am interested in clearing up some of the perceptions that are negative."
However, environmentalists said the tour is lacking in specifics that is troubling. Vanessa Pierce, the director of the Healthy Environmental Alliance of Utah said she has taken the tour twice now. She called it "a dog and pony show and they get to control the message."
If you are interested in taking a tour of the Clive facility, contact EnergySolutions at 801-649-2000.
FOX 13's Ben Winslow reports.
